A "monster" virus emerges from Siberia's frozen wasteland
28 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Scientists said they will reanimate a 30,000-year-old giant virus unearthed in the frozen wastelands of Siberia, and warned climate change may awaken dangerous microscopic pathogens.
Reporting this week in PNAS, the flagship journal of the US National Academy of Sciences, French researchers announced the discovery of Mollivirus sibericum, the fourth type of pre-historic virus found since 2003—and the second by this team.
Before waking it up, researchers will have to verify that the bug cannot cause animal or human disease.
To qualify as a "giant", a virus has to be longer than half a micron, a thousandth of a millimetre (0.00002 of an inch).
Mollivirus sibericum—"soft virus from Siberia"—comes in at 0.6 microns, and was found in the permafrost of northeastern Russia.
Climate change is warming the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions at more than twice the global average, which means that permafrost is not so permanent any more.
"A few viral particles that are still infectious may be enough, in the presence of a vulnerable host, to revive potentially pathogenic viruses," one of the lead researchers, Jean-Michel Claverie, told AFP.
The regions in which these giant microbes have been found are coveted for their mineral resources, especially oil, and will become increasingly accessible for industrial exploitation as more of the ice melts away.
"If we are not careful, and we industrialise these areas without putting safeguards in place, we run the risk of one day waking up viruses such as small pox that we thought were eradicated," he added.
In safe laboratory conditions, Claverie and colleagues will attempt to revive the newly discovered virus by placing it with single-cell amoeba, which will serve as its host.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/800/2015/55ef0cf632c94.jpg[/IMG]
[url]http://phys.org/news/2015-09-frankenvirus-emerges-siberia-frozen-wasteland.html[/url]
[quote] we run the risk of one day waking up viruses such as small pox that we thought were eradicated[/quote]
Can't mother nature cut us a break
That thing is almost 2% the size of a red blood cell.. :facemelt:
So, it's a monster in terms of size, rather than lethality.
:disappoint:
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48655909]Can't mother nature cut us a break[/QUOTE]
We can just use the age old trick of having Cow Pox which stops you getting Small Pox
Unless it's adapted/different strain or whatever.
So according to the article, fossil fuels will not only be responsible for flooding most coast-lines in a few hundred years, but also for releasing ancient pathogens that were unearthed by/exposed to workers drilling for more fossil fuels.
It's like we're living in a very slowly progressing Final Destination movie.
Very much related.
[video=youtube;0Nz8YrCC9X8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Nz8YrCC9X8[/video]
[B]Starts: 0:41[/B]
Oh shit, this like one of the scenarios of Plague Inc.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48655909]Can't mother nature cut us a break[/QUOTE]
Can't we cut mother nature a break? I mean, global warming is entirely our fault after all.
Remember how the virus revived when the villagers started their mining activities on RE4?
I seriously hope someone smart enough takes measures to prevent a worst case scenario, reviving something so old and with unknown potential is... scary.
So this is how the zombie virus breaks loose, not from the labs, but from the ice.
Kill it with fire!
[QUOTE=iAmaNewb;48656163]Oh shit, this like one of the scenarios of Plague Inc.[/QUOTE]
I'm fairly sure it literally is one of the scenarios. Except, the virus there made everyone neanderthals.
[QUOTE=FalconHBFS;48656287]Remember how the virus revived when the villagers started their mining activities on RE4?
I seriously hope someone smart enough takes measures to prevent a worst case scenario, reviving something so old and with unknown potential is... scary.[/QUOTE]
few measures have been taken already, few enough where their effect will be negligible. tbh we're pretty much doomed to see everything climate change has to offer because some people couldn't stand seeing their practically meaningless numbers dip some and decided to sacrifice a world they won't ever see since they'll be dead to ensure their numbers stay growing at the same rate.
imo everyone who has stood in the way of reversing climate change has comitted a crime against humanity and should be treated as such
[editline]10th September 2015[/editline]
hooray, we're fucked!
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48655909]Can't mother nature cut us a break[/QUOTE]
After the shit we pulled? Hah.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48655909]Can't mother nature cut us a break[/QUOTE]
[I]nature finds a way...[/I]
Anyway I always wondered how we haven't accidentally released smallpox after all these years, it must not be that good at staying dormant
Add it to pizza.
Looks like Karl's ramblings are coming true.
[video=youtube;Crm3wgK40mk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crm3wgK40mk[/video]
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48655909]Can't mother nature cut us a break[/QUOTE]I can't wait for The Last Ship to be a documentary. Maybe we can go all out and have a virus that turns people into mindless zombies?
Shit, let's go full retard and have it so the Doom movie comes true and most of the population mutates into pinkies and imps. Oh hell yes RIP AND TEAR.
Isn't being large disadvantageous for a cell or virus?
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48655909]Can't mother nature cut us a break[/QUOTE]
'Mother nature' has nothing to do with it, the global warming is happening ahead of schedule because of our own interference with the environment.
But it's not like we can stop it now anyway. All we can do now is put up safeguards. And if companies and governments dismiss even that, then it's like taking a piss on your cake and eating it too.
This is something out of the Talos Principle.
Just a matter of time when chimps and apes start dying, then we'll be next.
[QUOTE]Scientists said they will reanimate a 30,000-year-old giant virus unearthed in the frozen wastelands of Siberia.[/QUOTE]
Yes. Absolutely nothing can go wrong with this.
[QUOTE=Chonch;48657215]Yes. Absolutely nothing can go wrong with this.[/QUOTE]
It's only an issue if you hear it in the background in the beginning of a movie.
[img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/clumsy_foreshadowing.png[/img]
[QUOTE=Chonch;48657215]Yes. Absolutely nothing can go wrong with this.[/QUOTE]
You are correct. Because we are almost certain we won't be working on the only remaining specimen of the virus - there's almost guaranteed to be more all around in the ice. So if we wake some in the lab and study it, we might get the chance to know it before it inevitably released into the nature. We might even figure out a vaccine by then.
This is why is the Siberian ice so scary. It will release a lot of shit regardless of what the scientists there do, they can just try to give us a heads up if it turns out to be something bad.
Oh boy, almost the same scenario as Fortitude...
or the thing...
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48655909]Can't mother nature cut us a break[/QUOTE]
No because we don't cut her a break either.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;48658304]You are correct. Because we are almost certain we won't be working on the only remaining specimen of the virus - there's almost guaranteed to be more all around in the ice. So if we wake some in the lab and study it, we might get the chance to know it before it inevitably released into the nature. We might even figure out a vaccine by then.
This is why is the Siberian ice so scary. It will release a lot of shit regardless of what the scientists there do, they can just try to give us a heads up if it turns out to be something bad.[/QUOTE]
well the one problem with that is the agencies that would have the most immediate access to that ice aren't exactly the most funded
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